(Series) Review: A Cookie House Mystery (#1 to #3) by Eve Calder

And we’re back with the cozy mystery roll! Eve Calder‘s A Cookie House Mystery series is something random that I came across on Audible as the series is free if you have Audible Plus. I thought this would be another run-of-the-mill cozy mystery that I can use as background during my walks but this series turned out to be a revelation!

• And Then There Were Crumbs – 5/5☕
• Sugar and Vice – 4/5☕
• A Tale of Two Cookies – 4.5/5☕

tHOUGHTS

And Then There Were Crumbs started off like a lot of formulaic Hallmark-esque holiday movie: a city girl moves to a small, quaint village and found her happy ever after. But instead of a man, she found a whole community to fall in love with. Jobless and having recently broken off an engagement with a cheating ex, pastry chef Kate McGuire set out to the the island of Coral Cay (pronounced as ‘key’, which I’ve only been made aware of thanks to this series ha!) to start from scratch. She was able to convince bakery owner Sam Hepplewhite to let her help in exchange of a little salary and lodging. Until someone that visited the bakery suddenly turned up dead and Sam was accused or murder. Kate is then left trying to keep a bakery alive and simultaneously trying to solve a murder, while enounteting lot of interesting town characters (and becoming friends with most of them in the process). Sugar and Vice found Kate and Maxi trying to solve the mystery of the remains that Oliver found in the latter’s garden. And then we have A Tale of Two Cookies where the town banded together trying to solve the case of the disappearing groom of Kate’s friend from Manhattan.

It took a while for me to finish the first book because life just got a bit too busy but I didn’t have any problem picking it up again after a while despite this being a whodunnit with many details to remember. The narration was light while still handling certain heavy topics delicately. It was so nice to have something cozy but absolutely brilliant. It also reinvented popular tropes and twisted and connected them in unexpected ways. The three books have very different story lines which I adored because it didn’t feel repetitive even if it did retain some common themes. It kept me guessing and it is so much fun being in on the ride.

More than the story lines for each of the book, I think my most favorite part are the set of characters we meet. I loved how they keep popping up but feel fully realized and not just side characters for the sake of it. I feel like they could exist outside of this series and that’s a good sign of nicely written characters. I loved that it has continuity, in a sense that details mentioned in the previous books somehow become a significant part of the next stories. It has that full small-town feeling that reminds me so much of the Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls (sorry for the cliche reference, I haven’t watched a lot of cozy small town shows 😅). My favorite would definitely be Oliver (the town dog) who was so smart and fun – and also Maxi, her goodhearted florist neighbor that from then on became her best friend.

I liked how the stories were tied up in each of them. When I finished the last audiobook, A Tale of Two Cookies, I immediately checked Eve Calder’s site if there are more books in this series or if she is planning to write more given that Book 3 was published in 2021. It seems there are no concrete news yet but from this interview, it seems that a Book 4 is in the works – which makes me so happy! Please give us more, Eve! 😂 I’ll happily gobble any book set in this town, with these characters! (ALSO, I WANT THOSE COOKIE RECIPES! 🤤)

Anyway, if you are looking for a nice cozy mystery book series to obsess about, please consider Cookie House Mysteries. I promise, it will be worth your while. Highly recommended! 🍪

RATING (AVERAGE)

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Oh, how I love cozy mysteries! They’ve been my comfort reads lately, specifically if I’m listening to them while I am doing something in the flat or walking along the park to get my cup of coffee.

Do you have any cozy mystery book recommendations? Or any cozy small town shows along the vein of Gilmore Girls? Please please please comment up. I need recs! 😁

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